Fears Of An Asian Arms Race Abound

Chinese soldiers (Photo from The Telegraph/Reuters)

Asia Driving Global Arms Sales -- The Diplomat

The economic crisis prompted many nations to slow arms buys. But Asian governments such as China and Malaysia keep on buying.

For a while at least, it looked like there was one trade that was immune from the global financial crisis. Governments continued buying foreign weapons in 2008 despite the economic turmoil that summer. But in 2009, the financial downturn finally caught up with some of them. Striving to contain soaring budget deficits resulting from declining tax revenues and rising social welfare expenditures, leaders of several developing nations cancelled or deferred many arms purchases, reducing international weapons purchases and deliveries to their lowest levels in years.

Read more ....http://the-diplomat.com/2010/09/24/asia-driving-global-arms-sales/